Subject guide

​An overview of global patterns and trends in the availability and consumption of ​land/food, including changing diets in middle-income countries.

A. Land resources and productivity

Use the student textbook to answer the following questions:
  1. What has happened to the area of land used to grow crops as human population has increased?
  2. Use Fig 7.32 to briefly describe increases in the area of cropland worldwide.
  3. Now study Fig 7.33 and 7.34. What does this show us about changes between 1960 and 2000? Where has cropland expanded and where has it declined?
  4. Why is the area of cropland likely to increase or stay high in LICs? Why is it likely to decrease in HICs? Support this with examples. Where can you identify exceptions?
  5. Make sure you understand the index used to construct Fig 7.36. Wth reference to the graph, identify the regions with:
    1. The largest increases in food production
    2. The lowest rates of increase in food production between 1961 and 2013
  6. What is meant by farm productivity? Which parts of the world are experiencing the greatest and slowest increases in productivity.
  7. What factors are causing increasing productivity in most of the world?
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B. Global patterns and trends in the availability of food

"Global food security has generally improved over the past decade, in line with record agricultural production and lower food prices. But recent macroeconomic, socio-economic and political trends suggest that continued progress is not a foregone conclusion. Fluctuating global economic growth, increasing inequality, political instability and forced migration, among many other factors, also have a significant impact on whether populations remain well-fed. Climate change and natural resource depletion will only aggravate these trends, while severely threatening the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) of ending hunger by 2030. According to a recent study from the UN Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO), by 2030 an extra 35m to 122m people could fall into poverty and therefore become less food secure as a result of climate-related risks."

Global Food Security Index 2017 p4
Global Food Security Index
​Use the resources in this section to answer the following questions:
  1. What is the Global Food Security Index and, briefly, how is it calculated?
  2. Describe the global pattern of high AND low scores of food security.  
  3. Describe the global patterns of high AND low levels of food affordability.
  4. Describe the global patterns of high AND low levels of food availability.
  5. Describe the global patterns of high AND low levels of food quality and safety.
  6. Find and comment on the food security in Niger, China, USA, Indonesia, Singapore, 
  7. Suggest reasons for the patterns you have identified above.  
  8. Identify the regions that appear to be showing an increase in food security over the last five years.  Also identify the regions that appear to be showing a decrease in food security over the last five years.  
eiu_global_food_security_index_-_2017_findings___methodology.pdf
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Our World In Data: Hunger and Undernourishment
Study the map and graph below (source) and use the information to answer the following questions:
  1. Describe patterns of undernourishment in 2015.
  2. Comment on the situation in China, Niger, Indonesia, Singapore, USA.
  3. What is the overall trend?
  4. Why is there no data for HICs? Suggest reasons for the lack of data in other countries.

C. Changing Diets in MICs

  1. Based on the articles and TED Talk above and the student textbook, in what ways are the diets of the rising middle class changing?
  2. What is meant by "Food homogenisation"? Give evidence that it is occuring in the NGMC.
  3. Explain the impact of the changing diets of the rising middle class.
  4. How do the articles suggest that climate change is likely to compound these issues?
  5. Now form a pair. One of the pair should use the links and video below to investigate changing diet in Brazil and the other should focus on China. Prepare a mini case study for your country and then share it with your partner. It should include:
    1. ​Evidence of changing dietary trends and the nature of the change
    2. Causes of the changes - economic, demographic, social
    3. Consequences of the changes - economic, environmental, health, social​

Brazil
China